NCAA's Pride Month tweet exposes cowardice bordering on 'performative allyship' | Opinion

One tweet celebrating the beginning of Pride Month doesn’t excuse the NCAA’s shameful silence the other 364 days of the year.

The NCAA didn’t display any great moral courage last week when it chimed in alongside pretty much every other corporate entity in support of the LGBTQ community. If anything, its tweet exposed just how cowardly it’s been.

There has been a rash of anti-LGBTQ laws pushed through state legislatures in recent years. These laws that limit access to medical care, prohibit the mere mention of sexual orientation and gender identity, and roll back legal protections have no other purpose than to marginalize, and in some cases, erase LGBTQ people.

And what has the NCAA done in response? Other than post that tweet on June 1? Nothing. Not one thing to protect its athletes who are affected by these laws. It hasn’t publicly opposed any of the legislation or threatened to pull its high-profile events from states targeting the LGBTQ community.

It’s gone along as if it’s business as usual, as if some of its athletes aren’t under the very real threat of harm because politicians view them as an easy way to score political points.

“This seems to be a trend with the NCAA. They tend to make statements – and I think they are aiming to be inclusive – but they are not addressing the very real harms being done to the LGBTQ community and, particularly, NCAA athletes,” Anna Baeth, the director of research for Athlete Ally, told USA TODAY Sports.

“I don’t think I would go as far as to call it performative allyship,” Baeth said, “but it’s not far off.”

Making this all the more disappointing is that it wasn’t long ago the NCAA was proud to stand against bigotry and hate. It told South Carolina it would not allow championship events to be held in the state so long as the Confederate flag continued to fly at the capitol. It yanked NCAA men's basketball tournament games from North Carolina after it passed a “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people.

And when Indiana passed a law in 2015 that sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ people under the guise of “religious freedom,” then-NCAA president Mark Emmert wasted no time condemning it and suggesting the organization could move its headquarters and its championships as a result.

Making this all the more disappointing is that it wasn’t long ago the NCAA was proud to stand against bigotry and hate. It told South Carolina it would not allow championship events to be held in the state so long as the Confederate flag continued to fly at the capitol. It yanked NCAA men's basketball tournament games from North Carolina after it passed a “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people.

And when Indiana passed a law in 2015 that sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ people under the guise of “religious freedom,” then-NCAA president Mark Emmert wasted no time condemning it and suggesting the organization could move its headquarters and its championships as a result.

Baker pointed out that the NCAA has 1,100 member schools across all 50 states, and there are varying viewpoints among them. This isn’t like disagreeing over the merits of NIL or conference expansion, however. These laws target the very existence of LGBTQ people, some of whom are NCAA athletes.

The NCAA has a responsibility to stand behind its athletes — all of its athletes — on every day of the year.

Steve Berkowitz contributed to this report.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.